View Poll Results - Download or Boxed?

Boxed vs Download

September 12th, 2011, 11:37

Originally Posted by Fnord
Also if I don't like a boxed game, I can just give it to a friend. Can't give a used Steam game to a friend.

You can't even do that anymore with a lot of titles nowadays. I recently tried to give my copy of Bulletstorm to a friend, but apparently GFWL titles can only be registered one time. Thank the computer gods for cracks…

It used to be physical but the space I have is being filled by books, DVDs and old games. So I try to go for download though I restrict it to GOG (which I can backup) or very cheap STEAM or Gamersgate so if they go bust the loss to me is small.

I'm lazy and impatient - which are the two primary reasons. Beyond that, I think physical copies represent a waste of resources all-round.

I'm not attached to "my games" in any way - and I don't consider them "mine" even when I've paid for them. I don't care about ownership of such things - as long as I get access to the game until I'm done with it, that's good enough for me. Naturally, as we live in a supremely materialistic world - there's no other feasible way of distributing "experiences" in the immediate future. I'd prefer if everything was freely available to everyone - and the motivation for creation was the creation itself.

I'm about as non-materialistic as you can get without being too insane

DArtagnan

But shouldn't the impatient prefer boxed? Driving to next store, looting it and returning home takes maybe 30 minutes. A DL for a current game takes much longer for people on smaller broadband connections like 3 Mb.

Originally Posted by Gorath
But shouldn't the impatient prefer boxed? Driving to next store, looting it and returning home takes maybe 30 minutes. A DL for a current game takes much longer for people on smaller broadband connections like 3 Mb.

No, because I generally have to wait until the shop receives the copy - which is almost invariably later (typically the games unlock when the stores are closed and they make the games available the following day) - especially if it's not region locked. Beyond that, the price at a physical retailer is generally higher for me than what I have to pay for a digital copy - though it's not by much.

But there's also the "lazy" part, which means I can't be bothered to physically travel and get my game - which also includes money for gas or public transportation. I could order it online, but then I'd have to wait for the postal service - which is not reliable.

My internet connection is very fast, and I can download full games in 15-30 minutes on average from D2D/Gamersgate/Steam. Beyond that, I can just start the download and go do something else, which I can't do when physically travelling to get a copy.

DArtagnan

Originally Posted by Fnord
We don't know if steam/gamer's gate/impulse will be around in 10 years, and we don't know if they will (be forced to) remove older games. If these sites goes down, or if they remove the games, then everyone who have bought their games from them will end up not being able to play them any more.

So far, any game that has been yanked (ie Dragon Age 2) has been still available in the Steam accounts to those who already bought it. You just can't make new purchases of those games but they aren't taking them away from people who already own it.

Worse case scenario if Steam goes tits up someday and doesn't patch the games to be playable without it (they have already said they would in that event) then there are cracks available. Yes, it requires a little hoop jumping, but so does DOSBox and other things we need to do currently to play the older generation of games.

I think most older games will always require a little finagling no matter what.

As far as Gamersgate/Impulse/Direct2Drive etc go, you do know that they don't require you to connect to them after you download the game and install it? Some of the games have DRM but most of that is offline stuff like Securom. There is increasingly getting to be an online DRM component but that is from the publishers (EA, Ubi, Blizzard, Kalypso etc) and you will get that no matter what, even boxed copies have to deal with it.

Also, from time to time, the manual is fun to read.

I just download the PDF from Steam and throw it on cloud storage space then pull it up on my tablet.

Beyond that, the price at a physical retailer is generally higher for me than what I have to pay for a digital copy - though it's not by much.

I was under the impression that Denmark had slightly lower game prices than Sweden, and for me it is almost always cheaper to buy a boxed copy than to download the game, even with sales (there are of course exceptions). If I'm willing to wait for it I can usually order games far cheaper from other countries as well.

Of course with lower price I mean as long as I stay away from the larger chains like GameStop, GAME or Åhlens. Those stores tends to be at least 20% more expensive when it comes to new games (and they don't bother with lowering the prices on older games until they are very old).

Originally Posted by Fnord
I was under the impression that Denmark had slightly lower game prices than Sweden, and for me it is almost always cheaper to buy a boxed copy than to download the game, even with sales (there are of course exceptions). If I'm willing to wait for it I can usually order games far cheaper from other countries as well.

Well, it's pretty close for new games - but GENERALLY, I can save something like 20-50 DK if I go digital. There are plenty of exceptions where prices are prety much identical, and sometimes physical copies cost slightly less - but only insignificantly so.

But since I don't have to wait for the postal service and I don't have to bother with things like games being shipped on time and being in stock - it's a very easy choice.

I just find the whole digital solution infinitely more practical and logical.

It should be noted though, that the prices I'm talking about for DD is based on Gamersgate/Impulse/D2D - and NOT Steam.

Steam is almost invariably more expensive than physical copies, where non-sales are concerned.

That said, it seems it's changing as we speak. D2D/GG seem to have become more expensive in the past few weeks - and aren't quite as flexible in terms of region-locks as they once were.

I don't know what the future holds, but I have a hard time seeing myself going back to physical copies.